Shaving Soap Review: Palmolive Classic Cream

Ease of Lathering: Face lathering is Good, bowl lathering Very Good
Protection: Very Good
Residual Slickness: Very Good

Scent: Very mild scent. Just a clean scent that probably will not bother or inspire. Perhaps will bring back some “old fashioned” feelings in some, especially those from the UK, where this soap has been much more prevalent.

Production/Value: Palmolive cream, in markets where it doesn’t have to be imported, is said to be dirt cheap. I had to get mine imported from Portugal, and the shipping was more than the soap. If paying a pittance, this makes it a great value. After paying what amounts to double or more, perhaps a bit less so. The primary issue is that the cream tends to require more product for each shave (simply because of water content – it’s a cream, after all.) The hard soap in a shave stick, however, is a killer deal, no matter where you live.

Notes: I have always been pretty impressed by the Palmolive classic. That said, I’d been trying to face lather the stuff, and that had been the issue. It’s simply not as at home with that methodology as it is using a shaving bowl/scuttle. Once I tried it with a bowl lather, everything changed. It’s performance kicked up a notch in every category. Unless otherwise noted, the grades I’ve handed out are for bowl lathering. Certainly worth a try, if you can get it for less than eight bucks American. The downfalls of this cream are availability and not being quite as efficient has a hard soap. That is not to say that it takes that much product to have a shave. It doesn’t. No more than you’d use of your standard toothpaste will be sufficient. Finally, if you like a stronger, more obvious scent, this one’s pretty mild and indistinct. Still, this is a must-try for a budget conscious shaver, especially if you live in an area where it is sold from brick and mortar drug stores.